he waterfront in Leith got a new retail and leisure destination this month when Ocean Terminal, Forth Ports’ and Bank of Scotland’s £120m development, opened

to the public,” read Shopping Centre’s original coverage. “The 440,000-sq ft scheme promises to add more allure to an area of Edinburgh that is in the process of acquiring a new identity.” Designed by Conran &#38; Partners, it was the only shopping centre to

open in Scotland that year. Anchored by Debenhams and Bhs, with a 12-screen Ster Century cinema multiplex – now Vue - it also boasted the royal yacht Britannia as a visitor attraction. Terry Smith, then property director at Forth Ports, is reported to

have said the scheme rivalled any waterfront development in any capital city in the world. Retail occupiers, recruited by Hamilton Glen and CWM, included

scheme to fully-let by the following spring. Ocean Terminal welcomed a number of firsts for Scotland in the

dining arena, including Conran’s Zinc Bar &#38; Grill, Chinese and herbal restaurant Palace Chine and Ma Potter’s American-style restaurant. Back in 2001, the scheme had a regional catchment of 1.7 million

and is said to have provided a 25 per cent increase in Edinburgh’s quality retail floorspace. There were 1,600 parking spaces connected directly to the malls and it was served by eight bus services running every five minutes from the city’s Princes Street. In 2008 it became the first Scottish shopping centre to house an indoor urban skatepark. Now closed, Transgression Park - run by the Scottish extreme sports company, EHX – attracted both novices and enthusiasts alike to practice skateboarding, rollerblading, BMX and break dancing. Current retailers include Build-A-Bear Workshop, Dorothy Perkins,

and there is a Pure gym and spa. According to centre manager, Dennis Jones, competition from

Edinburgh city centre has meant that they’ve had to be clever about the tenant mix and “push past the mainstream brands.” And there’s been a real focus on events. The centre hosted the 2003 MTV European Music Awards and after-

party, hosts Fringe shows like the Moscow State Circus and routinely transforms its food terrace into a 3,000-capacity night club with DJ sets by Boy George and Pete Tong. In the future, Jones hopes Ocean Terminal can be extended

along the waterfront comprising new restaurants, entertainment opportunities and offices and even an exhibition and convention centre. “For health &#38; safety reasons we can’t let people down to the

quayside because it’s still a working dock,” he said. “But we’d like to put the structures in place to allow people to do that – it’s only logical to extend but something like that would take 5-10 years to come to fruition.”